What is the highest mountain in Colombia?

Pico Cristóbol Colón, at 5,775 m. Ritacuba Blanco is second at 5,410 m. Rankings cover the mountains indexed in YearMaps.

How many mountains are there in Colombia?

YearMaps lists 6 mountains for Colombia. This is the number mapped in the atlas, not an official national count.

Colombia · Mountains

Highest Mountains in Colombia

Pico Cristóbol Colón is the highest of the 6 mountains recorded for Colombia, at 5,775 m, ahead of Ritacuba Blanco at 5,410 m. The full list follows.

How this list is built: Ranked by summit elevation above sea level. A summit on a border is listed under both countries. It covers the mountains indexed in YearMaps, drawn from open geospatial data, and is not an exhaustive national register.

Mountains Listed: 6
Top Ranked: 5,775 m
Second: 5,410 m
Profiled Below: 2

Highest Mountains in Colombia
#	Name	Elevation	Feet	Region
1	Pico Cristóbol Colón	5,775 m	18,947 ft	South America
2	Ritacuba Blanco	5,410 m	17,749 ft	South America
3	Nevado del Ruiz	5,311 m	17,425 ft	South America
4	Volcán Galeras	4,276 m	14,029 ft	South America
5	Alto de Buey	1,810 m	5,938 ft	South America
6	Cerro Maine Hanari	860 m	2,822 ft	South America

The Mountains of Colombia in Detail

The 2 mountains above that have an encyclopedia article, in the same order, each with its photograph, figures and the places around it.

Ritacuba Blanco

Mountain · 5,410 m

Ritacuba Blanco is a mountain rising to 5,410 metres (17,749 ft) in Colombia, in the South America region. From PeakBagger.com, with kind permission..

Ritacuba Blanco is the highest peak of Cordillera Oriental, in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. It's also named Ritak'uwa, an ancient name from the U'wa indigenous people that live in the lowlands of the National Park Sierra Nevada del Cocuy y Güicán, where the Ritacuba Blanco is located.

The summit is accessible from the west via the town of El Cocuy, the village of Güicán, and the hamlet of Las Cabañas. The hike is fairly easy, but the weather is not reliable, and a glacier must be crossed.

Because of global warming, its glacier is melting at very high rates, backing down 25 linear mts per year; the same is happening at amazing speeds to all other snow-covered tropical mountains in Colombia. In 1950, Ritacuba Blanco's glacier extended down to 4,100 metres (13,500 ft) above sea level; in January 2007 its lowest point was at 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level. If this melting rate continues, the glacier is expected to disappear before 2055.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Ritacuba Blanco (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Elevation: 5,410 m (17,749 ft)
Global rank: #54 of 641 indexed
Region: South America (#13)
Country: Colombia
Coordinates: 6.4900°, -72.3000°

Of the 641 named summits indexed in YearMaps, Ritacuba Blanco ranks #54 by elevation, below Volcán Popocatépetl (5,420 m) and above Nevado del Ruiz (5,311 m).

Ranges:: Wilhelmina Gebergte (South America), Tumuc-Humac Mountains (South America)
Neighbouring summits:: Pico Bolívar (4,980 m), Nevado del Ruiz (5,311 m), Jamanota (188 m)
Settlements below:: Tame (62 km), Socorro (107 km), Duitama (108 km)

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More about Ritacuba Blanco

Ritacuba Blanco: Key Facts

Key facts about Ritacuba Blanco
Topographic prominence	3,645 m
Mountain range	Cordillera Oriental

Facts from Wikidata Q2648857 (CC0).

Nevado del Ruiz

Mountain · 5,311 m

Nevado del Ruiz is a mountain rising to 5,311 metres (17,425 ft) in Colombia, in the South America region.

Nevado del Ruiz (Spanish pronunciation: [neˈβaðo ðel ˈrwis]), also known as La Mesa de Herveo (English: Mesa of Herveo, the name of the nearby town) is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, being the highest point of both. It is located about 130 km (81 mi) west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano composed of many layers of lava alternating with hardened volcanic ash and other pyroclastic rocks. Volcanic activity at Nevado del Ruiz began about two million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene, with three major eruptive periods. The current volcanic cone formed during the present eruptive period, which began 150,000 years ago.

The volcano usually generates Vulcanian to Plinian eruptions, which produce swift-moving currents of hot gas and rock called pyroclastic flows. These eruptions often cause massive lahars (mud and debris flows), which pose a threat to human life and the environment. The impact of such an eruption is increased as the hot gas and lava melt the mountain's snowcap, adding large quantities of water to the flow.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Nevado del Ruiz (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Elevation: 5,311 m (17,425 ft)
Global rank: #55 of 641 indexed
Region: South America (#14)
Country: Colombia
Coordinates: 4.9000°, -75.3223°

Of the 641 named summits indexed in YearMaps, Nevado del Ruiz ranks #55 by elevation, below Ritacuba Blanco (5,410 m) and above Pik Karakol (5,216 m).

Ranges:: Wilhelmina Gebergte (South America), Tumuc-Humac Mountains (South America)
Neighbouring summits:: Ritacuba Blanco (5,410 m), Pico Bolívar (4,980 m), Chimborazo (6,267 m)
Settlements below:: Manizales (28 km), Pereira (41 km), Ibagué (52 km)

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More about Nevado del Ruiz

Geography and geology

Nevado del Ruiz, which lies about 129 km (80 mi) west of Bogotá, is part of the Andes mountain range. The volcano is part of the Ruiz–Tolima volcanic massif (or Cordillera Central), a group of five ice-capped volcanoes which also includes the Tolima, Santa Isabel, Quindio and Machin volcanoes. The massif is located at the intersection of four faults, some of which are still active.

Nevado del Ruiz lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region that encircles the Pacific Ocean and contains some of the world's most active volcanoes. It is the third most northernly of the volcanoes lying in the North Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt, which contains 75 of the 204 Holocene-age volcanoes in South America.

Eruptive history

The first eruptions of Nevado del Ruiz occurred about 1.8 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene epoch. Three primary eruption periods in the history of the massif have been identified: ancestral, older and present. During the ancestral period between one million to two million years ago, a complex of large stratovolcanoes was created. Between 1.0 million and 0.8 million years ago, they partially collapsed, forming large (5–10 km wide) calderas. During the older period, which lasted from 0.8 million to 0.2 million years ago, a new complex of large stratovolcanoes developed (including Older Ruiz, Tolima, Quindio, and Santa Isabel). Once again explosive summit calderas formed from 0.2 million to 0.15 million years ago.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Nevado del Ruiz (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Nevado del Ruiz: Key Facts

Key facts about Nevado del Ruiz
Topographic prominence	2,035 m
Mountain range	Cordillera Central

Facts from Wikidata Q233351 (CC0).

Quick Answers

What is the highest mountain in Colombia?: Pico Cristóbol Colón, at 5,775 m. Ritacuba Blanco is second at 5,410 m. Rankings cover the mountains indexed in YearMaps.
How many mountains are there in Colombia?: YearMaps lists 6 mountains for Colombia. This is the number mapped in the atlas, not an official national count.